Sunday, 3 February 2008

Meeting Update 020208

The NEAG meeting yesterday was well attended as can be seen by the photograph and we were treated to a demonstration of the latest offering from Stephen Harris whose new etched 16 tonmineral wagonslook to be about the easiest etched wagon kits ever to put together.

Just prior to the meeting there was a test run of one of the new Class 37's from Bachmann on Wansbeck Road. Quite impressive with analogue control. DCC should be really good.

Chris Mills was at the helm for the session and in under an hour he had constructed the wagon body, which consisted of 3 layers of etched sheet that all lie one on top of another. They are held in place by register holes that rely upon top hat bearings which are a tight fit in them. If solder paste is used instead of tinning with solder then the whole job can be done quite easily as Chris demonstrated. Bear in mind there is always a fair amount of audience participation at these sessions so sometimes the concentration can wander while answering questions and generally entertaining those present (which Chris has been known to do...!). However even though interruptions were evident sufficient progress was made to enable those present to see the worth of these kits. I do hope Stephen will continue to make these available because I think there is a definite future for them.

Chris has written a review of the kits which I hope will find its way into the next issue of the 2mm Magazine.